Recipe Recs

Discussion in 'General Advice' started by KingdomByTheSea, Nov 29, 2018.

  1. KingdomByTheSea

    KingdomByTheSea Well-Known Member

    So I am feeling the need to broaden my diet, but I'm not sure where to start, and i thought Kintsugi might have recipe recs!

    Things I am interested in incorporating:
    • Poultry
    • (Cheap) fish
    • Any and all vegetables! Especially ones that are high in protein
    • Lentils particularly
    • Rice
    • Salads with proteins
    Things I already eat:
    • Pizza
    • Hardboiled eggs
    • Pasta with parmesan
    • Boxed Mac and cheese
    • Grilled cheese
    • Cheese quesadillas
    • Iceberg lettuce
    • That's literally it guys, this is why i need help
    Things I can't/won't eat:
    • Black pepper
    • Chili pepper/jalapeƱos/similarly spicy seasonings
    • Meat in my pasta or rice
    • Bell peppers
    • Uncooked spinach or similarly bitter veggies (cooked is fine)
    • Soups or stews
    • Salad dressings that aren't vinaigrettes
    ETA: I don't have a crockpot/slow-cooker

    I'd consider myself a moderately skilled cook, and I have an oven and plenty of time to cook. Thanks for the help!
     
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2018
    • Like x 1
  2. 3strim

    3strim Professional Accidental Rater

    Question re: the poultry/fish:
    Are you adverse to finding bones in your fish and fillets would be preferred, or is it nbd?
    How comfortable are you handling raw meat? Is it a 'whatever I'll wash off my hands' or 'lemme get rubber gloves and oh gods its still slimy'?
     
  3. KingdomByTheSea

    KingdomByTheSea Well-Known Member

    Bones are fine, and I'm totally comfortable handling raw meat!
     
  4. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    Do you know how to make stir fry? It's my go-to thing when I Need To Put Vegetables In My Body, and it's pretty easy to learn. The hardest part is learning when to add various ingredients so that everything's cooked through and nothing's overcooked, but even if it's overcooked it still tastes good so it's nbd. Here is what I do for stir fry:
    • First you need vegetables, and you can use almost anything. Onions are the only essential item imo (and my sibling even leaves them out because of texture issues). Carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, peas, and greens like cabbage or bok choy or kale are all good, but you can use pretty much whatever you have on hand. Zucchini, green beans, potatoes, whatever. Frozen veg will be a bit mushy but are much easier. I don't measure things so I couldn't tell you exact amounts, but I usually use one medium yellow onion and then cut up about an equal volume of each other vegetable.
    • For protein you can also use whatever - I generally use chicken or tofu, but since you mentioned poultry I'll assume you're using chicken. You could use fish but I think the fish that's good in stir fry is mostly more expensive. If you do use tofu, the best way is to cut it into like half-inch pieces and cook it by itself on high heat with lots of oil before you start, then remove it from the pan and add it back in at the end. You don't have to do that though, it just gives it the best texture. You can also cook it like chicken (below).
    • Stir fry sauce you can either buy or make yourself! It's pretty easy to make - I use a couple tablespoons of soy sauce, about a teaspoon of rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar, about a teaspoon of brown sugar or honey, a tablespoon of minced garlic, a heaping teaspoon of minced ginger (assuming that doesn't count as spicy for you. You can also use powdered ginger though you'll want to use less of that), and a teaspoon or so of sesame oil. Just mix them together in a cup or something before you start cooking. If you have five spice powder, that can also be nice. (And I definitely recommend buying jars of minced garlic and ginger if you don't have them already! Makes things much easier!)
    • You'll also need a pan for the stir fry (ideally a large non-stick one), a pot with a fitted lid for rice, and a couple bowls to hold ingredients so you're not jostling for cutting board space.

    You're going to want to start the rice cooking first and make sure everything's cut up and prepped before you start cooking. Use medium-high heat and about a tablespoon of either a flavorless oil like canola, or sesame oil. I usually use a bit of both. When the oil's heated up, add your onions first and stir them around for a couple minutes until they're translucent. Add carrots and broccoli next if you're using them, since they take longer to cook than other vegetables. Cook those for another couple minutes until they're getting soft, then add the rest of your veg and keep stirring (though if you're using something like bok choy or kale that cooks quickly, I'd actually leave those until the end). If things are browning before they're soft, you probably want to turn the heat down a little.

    When all the veg are pretty much cooked, push them to one side of the pan and add a little more oil to the other side, then add the chicken and stir it around for a couple minutes until you can pull apart the largest piece and it's not pink in the middle. Mix the chicken back together with the veg and add the stir fry sauce (here is also where you'd want to add in bok choy or kale if you're using them). Stir everything around for another couple minutes and you're good!
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2018
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  5. Athol Magarac

    Athol Magarac I prefer reading posts without a lot of topics.

    Okay, for boxed mac and cheese, an easy hack is to add frozen peas and carrots mix or frozen stew mix that has peas, carrots, green beans, and corn. Just dump it into the water at the same time as the pasta, or you can use a steamer basket. Broccoli or California mix is a bit fussier, so you might want to just nuke it before adding it to the pasta.

    Darnit, I had an attempt at a food-blog almost a decade ago and I can't remember where it is. Anyway, this is the only useful recipe I remember being on it.

    Take a frying pan, add onions (large chunks), brown them a bit, add chicken thighs or leg quarters skin side down to brown the skin, then flip them over and turn the heat down. Add tomato juice or canned tomatoes. Turn it down to the lowest setting, put a lid on, and let it cook for about two-three hours. (If you do this in a stove-safe casserole dish or a stew pan, you can throw it in the oven for about an hour.) It can be done for shorter time at higher heat if you pay attention to it, I just did low and slow so I could play WoW without having things burn. About 15 minutes before dinner, add frozen or fresh spinach. My recipe was that I would pull out the chicken and add orzo pasta. But mine also had pepper instead of spinach I think. It needs some sort of seasoning.

    You could make a thick lentil soup with a bit of onion and carrot, and then use it as a topping for rice. I'm not sure what curry spices you'd like, so look up a garam masala recipe and find a way to smell things? Cumin is in our curry mix and we use it for tacos too. Tomato might brighten the flavor.

    I'm afraid that my best "cheap fish" recipe involves cooking tinned herring or sardines with rice and peas. Rice and peas with a good dose of parmesan is good, though.

    My other cheap fish recipe is to slice some fresh cucumber, dump a bit of pickled herring and juice over it in a bowl, and let it sit for a couple of hours.

    Maybe some frozen tilapia, rice, and california mix? It's been a while since my husband doesn't eat frozen fish or fresh tilapia.

    I'm not sure if you'd be able to find an unstuffed cabbage casserole that you'd like.
     
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